Men's Track & Field

Wheaton ties for ninth at NCAAs, posts best finish since 2004

Mar 13, 2010

GREENCASTLE, IN- Senior Merzudin Ibric (Revere,
MA/Phillips Academy) and sophomore Cailean Robinson (Newton, MA/Phillips Exeter Academy) each earned
a pair of All-America honors on Saturday while leading the Wheaton
College men's indoor track & field team to a tie for ninth at
the NCAA Championship, its best showing since 2004. The two-day
meet was held at DePauw University's Hollensteiner Track.

Wheaton's men were among 65 scoring teams and notched 15 points
while placing among the top 10 for the seventh time in 13 visits to
the indoor NCAA meet. The Lyons had the second-most points by a New
England school, as Amherst College tied for seventh with 17 points.
North Central College of Illinois won the title with 52.3 points,
while the Blue and White matched the University of Wisconsin at
Whitewater in the standings.

Ibric took fourth out of eight 400-meter dash runners in 49.09,
coming within 0.41 seconds of the runner-up finisher and bettering
his Friday trials time of 49.15. The team captain earned his first
All-America accolade since the indoor 400M during his freshman
year.

Robinson was third in the nation in the 55-meter dash, clocking
in at 6.39 in an eight-runner field to knock 0.01 seconds off his
trials time. While coming within 0.03 ticks of his eight-day-old
school record, Robinson earned an All-America accolade in the event
for the second straight year after taking eighth place in 2009.

During the final event of the meet, the 4x400M relay, Ibric and
Robinson added their second All-America finishes of the day while
combining with junior Mark Williamson (Vienna, VA/James
Madison) and freshman Ben Miklovich (New
Gloucester, ME/Gray-New Gloucester) to take fifth out of
11 foursomes at 3:18.31. The quartet was 1.09 seconds short of the
winner. Miklovich drew an All-America accolade in his first NCAA
Championship, while Williamson earned his first for either an
indoor or an outdoor NCAA meet.

Wheaton's track & field teams begin their outdoor campaigns
this coming week, traveling to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, for
the Coastal Carolina University Shamrock Invitational. The
three-day competition kicks off on Thursday.